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An Avatar: The Last Airbender Drabble/Oneshot Thing

November 19, 2006

948 Words

Disclaimer: It's all Nickelodeon's, uhkay? Yeah.

A/N: I blame Mike and Bryan. XD

"We're stuck."

A black-haired boy – possibly seventeen – stood defiantly, arms folded, staring at the millions of rocks and crystals that had caved the two teenagers in. His marred face was set in a scowl as he glanced at the brown-haired girl with him.

"We're stuck," the boy repeated lamely.

"I believe we've established that already Your Highness!" the girl retorted angrily, her blue eyes poring into the boy's gold ones. As if she could glare at him to death.

The fifteen-year-old paced the small cave, aggravated. The boy caught a murmur here and there. "Stuck… where's Toph… idiot… after the Avatar…is – what can we do? Stupid prince…"

He, in return, frowned and looked away. He was suddenly interested in the sparkling crystals that surrounded them. It was strange, really; stuck in some pretty, sparkly cave with… with… well…you could say they were enemies. He had chased the Avatar and his friends for a while. So, they were enemies. At least he assumed so.

The boy continued staring at the sparkling green crystals. They emanated a light green hue, lighting the cave for the two teenagers. The crystals were mesmerizing; he couldn't even look away. Or, maybe, he just didn't want to.

The girl, on the other hand, had gone into some sort of panic spasm. She continued pacing back and forth, whispering furiously. "All his fault… Azula… poor Sokka… oh, how are we going to get out of here? Honestly. Where is…? Stupid prince."

"I'm not a prince," he murmured softly, his voice suddenly hoarse and thick with unshed tears. This realization had finally, truly dawned upon him shortly after the sickness or 'metamorphosis' as his Uncle Iroh liked to call it. It was not a friendly process. The boy inwardly shuddered at the thought of the nightmares that had haunted him. According to Iroh, however, the process still wasn't complete. 'A choice is still to be made.' Whatever that meant.

Meanwhile, the blue-clad girl stared, confounded at the boy's remark. Not a prince? Since when was this haughty prince… not a prince? Okay, this was a nice change from his usual pride and arrogance but, still… what was he saying? Not a prince? He was born to Fire Lord Ozai! Of course he was a prince.

"Yes, you are," the girl exclaimed, glancing at the boy's back. He still refused to look at her. What was wrong?

"I'm a banished prince, peasant!" the boy yelled angrily, still engrossed in the shiny green crystals as he sat down, opposite the girl. He knew he shouldn't have called her a peasant but right now… he didn't care.

She couldn't believe it. She really couldn't. One minute, he was practically on the verge of tears and the next, he was biting back. Honestly.

As the boy sat down, the brown-haired girl followed suit, taking care to sit far away as possible in the small cave. Deciding to ignore the 'peasant' crack, the girl asked, timidly, "Why were you… banished?"

She knew it probably wasn't a safe question to ask but she didn't care. If they were going to be stuck here for a while, they'd might as well make conversation… no matter how unpleasant it would turn out.

"It is none of your concern! You're just some water tribe peasant. You wouldn't… you wouldn't understand!"

So, he had to admit, the response was somewhat juvenile but, it was better than silence. But, it was true. She was just a water tribe girl. She wouldn't understand the ways of the Fire Nation, much less royalty.

"Just some water tribe peasant!" the girl cried shrilly, throwing one glare over her shoulder at the black-haired boy. "You – you - !" She paused, at a loss for words. "What about your precious Fire Nation? Honorable, yeah right. You talk like you know about honor and … but – you know nothing – nothing of honor… "

She was close to tears now, visions of the Fire Nation invading her home and visions of her mother. The girl choked back a sob. She wouldn't give him that satisfaction.

Know nothing of honor? Him? Her words felt like knives to the exiled prince. Honor. He scoffed.

"Honor…. And what could you know about honor? You haven't been through anything compared to what I've been through… You wouldn't know… you don't know anything…" he trailed off. Vivid, mentally scarring memories of his mother, his sister, and his father flooded his mind. Everything… from his sister's cruel, taunting words to his mother leaving and his father… his father…

"Really? What could've been so bad? You're Prince Zuko!" she exclaimed, her voice shrill. She said his name as if he ruled the world. "You're just selfish, ungrateful… a horrible person… just like the rest of the stupid Fire Nation!" The tears that had been threatening to fall minutes ago, fell freely now, landing like small raindrops on her Water Tribe attire. She hugged her knees close to her chest as the seventeen-year-old boy protested.

"You don't even know me," he replied, darkly, his gold eyes expressing sorrow. "The Fire Nation… the Fire Nation…"He was at loss for words. What was the Fire Nation?

"The Fire Nation took my mother away from me!" the girl cried in anguish, sorrow and anger embedded within her words.

He suddenly felt as if he had been doused in icy cold water. He felt colder than he had at the Northern Water Tribe Kingdom. The Fire Nation took my mother away from me…

Suddenly, his mother's face… voice… smile… embrace… clouded his thoughts. "Everything I've done…I've done to protect you…"

Prince Zuko finally turned to Katara of the Water Tribe.

"That's something we have in common."

A/N: Yep. A little Zuko-and-Katara-in-the-cave drabble. There is no pairing. (But, I'm still a Zutarian!) I'm sorry if Katara seems somewhat of a crybaby… but… I dunno. It made sense to me. Katara is one of my favorite characters so I wouldn't intentionally make her a crybaby. I have absolutely no idea why in the world I didn't use their actual names throughout the whole thing, excluding dialogue. I was just… high or something. But, I do sometimes have a tendency to write without using names. So, there we go.

Oh and, I didn't really proofread it... so there will probably be grammar/spelling mistakes. ;o

Please review.